Secrets of Valhalla by Jasmine Richards Page A

snorted at the memory . The doctor might have kept him in if he’d told her about the dragon. But I didn’t, and neither did the Prof. After all, he doesn’t want it getting out that his son is just left of crazy.
    Buzz’s stomach began to growl, and he realized he hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday.He sniffed the air and was greeted with the vanilla scent of pancakes. Mum always made pancakes on Saturdays, and Tia had demanded that their father keep up the tradition. No one argued with Tia, not even the Prof. And besides, one thing that Buzz and the Prof could agree on was the fact that no one wanted to eat Tia’s cooking, and if the Prof didn’t make pancakes, she would.
    Buzz padded down the stairs and found his sister sitting at the breakfast bar tucking into a short stack covered in maple syrup and strawberries. She looked up at him briefly, her fire-hydrant-red hair a pop of color in the muted light of the autumn morning, and the sequins of her A-Team T-shirt twinkling cheekily. “You look horrendous, little bro. Was your Friday the thirteenth really that bad?”
    Buzz’s eyes widened. “You don’t know what happened?”
    Tia shook her head. “I was over at Marissa’s.”
    With a clatter, the Prof placed a plate of pancakes on the counter. “Your brother got lost in Tangley Woods yesterday and tripped and hit his head.” His voice seemed too loud for the kitchen somehow. “Eat up while they’re still hot.” The Prof shot Buzz a look that was pretty easy to read. Do not tell Tia about yesterday.
    His father strode back over to the stove and poured more batter into the pan from Mum’s favorite jug, the one with the tiny blue flowers. Buzz slid onto the barstool.
    Tia leaned toward him, stripes of angry color shading her cheekbones. “That bandage on your head doesn’t have anything to do with Theo Eddows, does it?” she hissed.
    Buzz shook his head.
    â€œDo you promise? Because if that cretin touched you, he is in more trouble than he can ever possibly imagine, and I’ll—”
    â€œTia, Theo Eddows has nothing to do with it,” he hissed back. “And I really don’t need you to fight my battles.”
    Tia crossed her arms. Her caramel skin flushed with anger. “From the state of you, I beg to differ.”
    Buzz reached for the chocolate sauce on the table. “Prof told you, I got a bit lost and then tripped. End of story.”
    Tia frowned as if she wasn’t sure whether to believe him. Buzz saw that furrowed brow a lot more than he used to. Tia was good at hiding her feelings, but he knew that she wasmissing Mum just as much as he was, and finding out that her little brother was quite possibly hallucinating about dragons and missing weatherwomen wouldn’t make her feel any better.
    His sister’s lips became a thin line. “Where’s your head at, Buzz? You know those woods better than anyone—even him.” She jerked her head in the direction of their father. He was flipping pancakes with a measured and methodical movement, with none of the will-she-or-won’t-she drama that came from Mum’s attempts.
    â€œI guess I wasn’t concentrating.” Tia was right: he did know the woods better than anyone. He’d grown up in those woods, knew every hiding place, and yet he had never seen that giant tree with its shimmering silver bark until yesterday.
    His fingers tightened on the bottle of chocolate syrup as he realized that he must have imagined the tree as well. The whole thing—Eleanor, Sunna, the dragon, and the enchanted rope—was just a fantasy, like his father had said.
    â€œBro! It’s meant to be pancakes with chocolate, not chocolate with pancakes.”
    Buzz gave a jolt and flipped the bottle up, chocolate sauce running over his fingers. “I got a bit carried away.” And in more ways than one. He cut into the pancakes and